Amy Lou Clunes
-Re-Star-t- and Fuego De Amor
-Re-Star-t- is a Spring/Summer 2024 inclusive ready-to-wear contemporary bridal collection of interchangeable separates designed using a circular model from deadstock fabric and up-cycled wedding dresses and tailoring. This collection demonstrates how traditional wedding wear can be contemporised and reinterpreted allowing garments to be worn on multiple occasions.
This collection is inspired by the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and a key LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson who famously coined the phrases' pay it no mind' and 'make do with what you have'. Marsha, homeless for most of her life, blended 'masculine' and 'feminine' clothing wearing anything she could find. Marsha's organization STAR (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries) helped bring members of the community together that were also struggling to find food and shelter. I am inspired by everything Marsha stood for and show glimpses of her throughout my collection by using stars or pointed silhouettes, delicate fabrics, and deadstock materials. I aim in the future to create a business model that upcycles vintage wedding dresses into pieces that can be worn as contemporary alternatives.